What Horner, Marko and Verstappen all said about Adrian Newey’s Red Bull exit

After months of speculation and a build-up usually reserved for a big-name driver signing, Aston Martin have confirmed Adrian Newey in a long-term deal that included becoming a shareholder.

But according to the Red Bull team hierarchy, his arrival next season will not be the eureka moment that elevates the Silverstone team from points scorers to championship winners.

Red Bull’s reaction to Adrian Newey’s exit

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher and Sam Cooper

Four months after Red Bull announced Newey would officially leave the team in the first quarter of 2025, Aston Martin have confirmed the 65-year-old as their new Managing Technical Partner and an Aston Martin shareholder.

He’ll join the team at the beginning of March next year with Aston Martin crowing about securing F1’s “most sought-after signature” as “yet another statement” of their F1 ambitions given his “unmatched record of success” that includes 25 championship titles.

And yet if you ask Red Bull, Newey isn’t the key to success.

After all, says Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, they were already having issues with the RB20 when he was still very involved in the design of the car.

“We had all of these issues because issues were already there, and one man’s input could never be so dramatic so quickly,” he told the media including PlanetF1.com at Monza.

“This started to really highlight itself in Miami, and Adrian was working up until Friday of Miami, so there’s no way it would have impacted so quickly

“He would have been working with all the same people and Formula 1 is a team sport. It’s a team issue, and the team will come up with the resolution.”

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But while it has been noted by pundits and fans alike that Red Bull’s form dipped after Newey stepped away and took a notable hit with the team’s Hungarian GP upgrades, Helmut Marko also insists Red Bull is a team effort, not just Newey.

Speaking on the Inside Line podcast, he said that while in yesteryear one man’s influence was keenly felt, in today’s F1 one person doesn’t make a difference.

At that time nobody had experience how to win races and to win championships. So at that stage, a man made a difference,” the 81-year-old said.

“Nowadays, the team, we have 2000 people. So nowadays the team matters. It’s not one single man, that has changed.

“You have far more simulation tools, you have so much more data, that single man is not the difference anymore. But that was different, that was the difference when Newey came.”

And yet Max Verstappen , who has seen his lead in the Drivers’ Championship reduced to 62 points as he’s gone within a win in the last six races, admits he wanted Newey to stay.

“I’ve always said that I would have liked for Adrian to stay, always,” he told the media including PlanetF1.com.

“But it’s not about that now, because last year we had a great car, which was the most dominant car ever, and we basically turned it into a monster. So we have to turn it around.”

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